What happens when you put a 43 year-old women on her 8 year-old son’s dirt bike?  Extreme peril.\n\nAfter a day of watching my son work on his motocross skills at the track, he asked if I wanted to ride a few laps.  Me?  Sure.   I was daring and adventurous, albeit still a novice rider, never having ridden a dirt bike before.  After all, a 3 year-old could ride one of these things, how fast could they be?  It looked easy enough.   He gave me the following instructions: 1) here’s the throttle 2) here’s the foot brake 3) here’s the hand brake.  I hopped on and took off, what could be the worst thing to happen?\n\nWell, I could “pin it” – jump over a berm, and launch myself over the handle bars.   How did I end up with blood dripping down my arm and rocks imbedded in my skin?  I panicked.   The speed was much more than I anticipated.  I desperately kept trying to find the foot brake to slow down, but to no avail.  My brain completely forgot about the hand brake, or even worse that if I let go of the throttle the bike would stop accelerating.   Did I mention I was wearing a tank top and jeans?  Not exactly proper riding gear.  Thankfully, I had a helmet on. \n\n\nEveryone came rushing over to see if I was alright.   Trying to get to my feet, my pant leg caught on the peg,   I realized I had a choice here.   I could walk off the track injured and bleeding, or I could get back on the bike and try again.   This was a teachable moment, what kind of example did I want to set for my son?\n\nI got back on the dirt bike, and put down three laps.   More cautiously at first as I got a feel for the bike, but gaining confidence with each turn.    I pulled off the track in search of a first-aid kit, and contemplated what just happened.\n\nWe all fail, (hopefully, it doesn’t always involve a possible hospital visit) but what’s important is what happens next.   Do we learn from our mistakes?  Do we ask questions to figure out what went wrong?  Do we listen to feedback?   Do we try again?\n\nThese are important questions in life and in business.   Far better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all.   Leaders must take risks and encourage those the lead to do so as well, thus creating an innovative organizational culture where ideas can thrive and business can grow.\n\nWell, I gave the spectators what they were looking for, a good crash; but more importantly I set an example for my son that when the going gets tough, the tough keep on going.   There’s no crying in motocross